History Channel

Beginning Monday, Warner Cable Communications subscribers in Williamsburg will receive the History Channel - and will be treated to a week's worth of segments on Colonial Williamsburg, Warner and CW officials said. "We did an informal survey in Williamsburg about adding channels, and the History Channel ranked extremely high," Day said. "We've gotten a lot of calls from Williamsburg subscribers asking when they could have it." The History Channel, beginning Monday, also will broadcast nationwide a series of segments on Colonial Williamsburg - invaluable tourism exposure for which CW officials have negotiated with the History Channel since January, said CW spokeswoman Susan M. Stuntz.

HAMPTON - For Langley Speedway, the fourth annual visit by the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour marked another chapter in its summer of success. For Kyle Ebersole, the series' visit to Langley proved to be a milestone. Ebersole, second in the Southern Modified standings, won his first race on the tour by leading the final 15 laps in the Bayport Credit Union/Newport News Shipbuilding 150. The triumph was an impressive one for the 22-year-old from Hummelstown, Pa., coming against a field that included Tim Brown and brothers Jason and Burt Myers - all made famous by the 2010 racing reality television series "MadHouse" on the History Channel - as well as points leader George Brunnhoelzl.

The new Godspeed replica ship stars in a documentary that's slated to air at 8 tonight on the History Channel. The documentary, titled "Save Our History: Godspeed to Jamestown," looks at the creation of the $2.6 million ship -- from the laying of its keel about two years ago in Maine to its sea trials this past April. The original Godspeed was one of three ships that brought English colonists to Virginia in 1607. The replica is owned by Jamestown Settlement -- a state-run, living-history museum in James City County.

Don't you admire those hardy folks who, turning their backs on all our modern technology, decide to "get back to the land" and become self-sufficient? You know, the ones who stoutly put on bib overalls and go churn their eggs and milk their pigs and slop their corn and bale their quilts, or whatever it is they do out there in the country? If so, you will be impressed to learn that I recently took my own bold step back to an earlier, simpler era: I canceled our cable television service.

A film crew from the cable network used Endview Plantation and other sites in Newport News for a documentary that will air next year. Endview Plantation was ready for its close-up this week. Producers from the History Channel were in Newport News all week, using the plantation, along with Lee Hall Mansion and Newport News City Park, as locations for an upcoming documentary. The producers declined to discuss the precise topic of the documentary, but said the Newport News locations were used to replicate another area of the South.

STRATFORD LAUDED. Stratford Hall Plantation's Web site has been awarded a Recommended Site Award from The History Channel. Stratford Hall originally was purchased by Thomas Lee, an acting governor of Virginia and ancestor of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. The general was born at the site, located in the city of the same name. It is now owned by the Robert E. Lee Memorial Association, and encompasses 1,600 acres. The site has been visited by more than 9,000 users during the past five months, and they're sure to get many more with The History Channel's recommendation.

Q: The Senior Citizens Education Act of 1974 has been in effect for 21 years, apparently, but there are colleges and universities that still have no knowledge of it. It enables anyone over 60 to take credit or noncredit courses for free if space is available in a class. Is this a federal or state mandate? - D.D., Hampton A: You don't need a decoder ring to find this in The Code of Virginia: Chapter 4.5, Sections 23-38.54 through 23-38.60. College officials can find it in their own catalogs, too. Every state college is required to publish "prominently" a statement of the benefits for senior citizens as spelled out in the code.

Traveling, grant and award opportunities have been created to coincide with the celebration. The Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation shares the following information about events and opportunities associated with Jamestown's 2007 celebration: Travel opportunity. Tours International, a British educational travel company, is offering three special tours to England, timed to coincide with commemorative events being planned by the British 2007 Commemorative Committee in April, July and December of this year.

Two men arrested, face drug charges HAMPTON - Police arrested two Shell Road men Wednesday morning after marijuana and Ecstasy were found in their home. Local and state police discovered two pounds of marijuana, 100 Ecstasy tablets, $1,005, and drug paraphernalia at the Shell Road house while executing a search warrant, said Cpl. Jimmie Wideman, of the Hampton Police Division. Sam L. Pugh, 26, and Orlando Robinson, 20, both of the 2300 block of Shell Road, were charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and possession of Ecstasy with intent to distribute.

Scott Nelson may not be as powerful as the "steel drivin' man" John Henry, but his research into the legendary 19th-century character is making him a giant of sorts in the academic world. Nelson, an associate professor of history at the College of William and Mary, will be part of a special on legendary giants scheduled to air Monday night on The History Channel. The program, which will run from 9-11 p.m., will examine the stories behind all types of mythical and historical giants, including Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill and John Henry.

By DAVID MACAULAY, dmacaulay@dailypress.com 247-7838 | October 11, 2008

Concerned about the effect that violent rap videos and gory films might have on inmates, the Newport News Sheriff's Office is filtering TV viewing in cellblocks and encouraging prisoners to get in touch with the past, the animal kingdom or their feminine side. The History Channel, Animal Planet, Lifetime, Discovery and CNN are among 10 channels that prisoners are still allowed to watch. MTV, channels with high adult content such as Spike and many sports channels have been sidelined.

So here we are, two years left to go in the decade (or three, depending on how strict you are about these things), and we still don't have a name for it. Think of how easily "the seventies" trips off the tongue when talking about disco and leisure suits, or "the eighties" when the topic turns to spiky haircuts and A Flock of Seagulls. But how will our future selves refer to the current decade? There was a lot of talk about what to call the first decade of the new millennium back in 2000 - perhaps the "oh-ohs," "the aughts," "the noughts" or the "zero-zeros."

Dan Roberts uses various media, including YouTube soon, to bring us "A Moment in Time." Dan Roberts' goal is "to ambush people with enlightenment where they least expect it." That's why he's on your car radio talking about the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 or 1800s photographer Eadweard Muybridge. Each weekday morning, the University of Richmond professor's "A Moment in Time" plays on WHRV-FM 89.5. It's syndicated to 145 other public radio stations around the country. "Most historians think they are the keepers of the Holy Grail, fearful lest somebody actually enjoy the past," Roberts said.

Richard "Mack" Machowicz speaks softly and carries a big laser-guided, over-the-horizon, armor-penetrating stick. Machowicz is the host of Discovery Channel's "Future Weapons," a breathless hour of gun love in which Mack -- a former Navy SEAL and a keen advocate of peace through superior firepower -- pulls the trigger on some of the most fearsome hardware ever procured by the Pentagon. In one episode, he ventilates the night with the fire-spitting 40mm cannon aboard an AC-130 Spectre gunship.

His years as president are the primary focus of tonight's show. Richard M. Nixon famously told reporters once that they wouldn't have him to "kick around anymore." Like one or two other pronouncements he made over the course of his political career, that wasn't true. He came back for more. More triumph. More dishonor. More punishment. And long after his Watergate disgrace and his death, he continues to remind us it's hard to keep an odd man down. Last season's edition of the Fox anti-terrorism potboiler "24" featured a Nixon-esque president as its devious villain.

The new Godspeed replica ship stars in a documentary that's slated to air at 8 tonight on the History Channel. The documentary, titled "Save Our History: Godspeed to Jamestown," looks at the creation of the $2.6 million ship -- from the laying of its keel about two years ago in Maine to its sea trials this past April. The original Godspeed was one of three ships that brought English colonists to Virginia in 1607. The replica is owned by Jamestown Settlement -- a state-run, living-history museum in James City County.

The Virginia Department of Transportation video team has won a national award for documenting one of the most significant archaeological finds in Virginia history. The Telly Award was presented for their production of "Discovering the First Virginians," a video of an American Indian quarry site in Culpeper County estimated to be 11,500 years old. The Telly Award recognizes the best productions of non-network and cable television entities. The program typically receives more than 10,000 entries each year.

His years as president are the primary focus of tonight's show. Richard M. Nixon famously told reporters once that they wouldn't have him to "kick around anymore." Like one or two other pronouncements he made over the course of his political career, that wasn't true. He came back for more. More triumph. More dishonor. More punishment. And long after his Watergate disgrace and his death, he continues to remind us it's hard to keep an odd man down. Last season's edition of the Fox anti-terrorism potboiler "24" featured a Nixon-esque president as its devious villain.

More than 1 million U.S. students and those from at least 13 other countries tune in for a live webcast from James City. The James River had another name before the English showed up, so a student from Northern Virginia sent e-mail to ask about it. "Oh, man, I'm glad you asked that question. It was the Powhatan River," said Stephen Adkins, chief of the Chickahominy Indian Tribe. "That's kind of been a bone of contention among our people for the last 400 years. In our private lives, we refer to it as the Powhatan River."

A film crew from the cable network used Endview Plantation and other sites in Newport News for a documentary that will air next year. Endview Plantation was ready for its close-up this week. Producers from the History Channel were in Newport News all week, using the plantation, along with Lee Hall Mansion and Newport News City Park, as locations for an upcoming documentary. The producers declined to discuss the precise topic of the documentary, but said the Newport News locations were used to replicate another area of the South.